Author
Topic: Stop chewing your gum so loud! (Read 20848 times)

Oh my dear diety, I had one of those. "Louise" would pop her gum constantly and so loudly it could be heard across the room. When asked, she would stop for five minutes, then "POP." I finally went to my supervisor, who essentially said it was my problem, until she had to sit in our area when they re-carpeted her office. Magically, Louise was transferred to another building shortly after. Her new coworker was an older woman who did not suffer fools (or gum poppers), and Louise stopped chewing/popping.

Louise was put on medical leave after she drank an entire bottle of cough syrup on the job and never returned. I think coworker was relieved to be rid of her, as Louise was truly a disaster waiting to happen.

OP, depending on how long you're stuck with her, continue to ask her. If it doesn't work, don't hesitate to go to the person in charge and impress upon them how irritating and distracting it is to you and possibly others.

Went to an appt. where the doctor had a piece of gum planted between her teeth so hard that it gave her a lisp as she spoke. At first, I thought she had a speech impediment, but the I saw the gum. She was not smacking it, not even chewing it, but was speaking to me through almost clenched teeth.I admit that it took me off guard, since I work at a school where no gum is allowed (trash, smells, wrappers, gum residue, sharing issues)

I think that nicotine gums are supposed to be used like this. I never used them myself, but my understanding is you don't chew them per say but rather just hold them down between your teeth chomping them only occasionally.

hmmm...did not know that! She told me she was pregnant with her third child, and is a dermatologist, plus I did not detect a hint of smoke with my very sensitive nose...follow-up for DD's appt is in 6 weeks. Wonder if the doctor will still have the gum?

I work with a popper/loud chewer. I put headphones on with music and could STILL hear him. So I very politely asked him if he would not pop anymore, or chew open mouthed, because it was quite distracting in a nails-on-a-blackboard kind of way, and that I DID try to block him out with the headphones but it didn't work, so could he please be more mindful. He has improved (not stopped totally) but what's more annoying now is that he's a bit snarky and acts like a victim and brings up my request to elicit sympathy, like I'm a mean person. But I have called him out on that, too, by using humor. So it hasn't escalated and things are okay. But it irks me that he tries to make me out to be a bad guy when he's the rude one! He also keeps 2 liter bottles of soda under his desk to refill his drink cup, and eats snacks out of loud plastic bags that crinkle and make a lot of noise, like pretzels and chips. That bugs me too, more for sanitary reasons than the noise. But I'm not complaining about that. I pick my battles, and the gum popping is way worse to me, so that's what I keep focusing on and trying to stop.

So what if she does? You are all in a classroom, it can't be that you are the only one who can hear her chew.

Exactly. My CW has tried to make me out to be the bad guy and when he did, I simply said flat out "I don't understand why I'm the bad guy here? YOU are the one who is chewing and popping something in your mouth that is so loud it can be heard above the noise of my headphones, and I politely asked you to simply close your mouth when you chewed so as not to make so much noise anymore. I didn't ask you to stop chewing gum, just to do it quietly. Why am *I* the bad person? I haven't said a word since my initial request but YOU keep bringing it up to elicity sympathy. WHY?" He had no answer to that.

The way we present ourselves to the public can be very important in my field. I fear what would happen if the instructors heard something bad abou me that wasn't true. They are good people and would probably ask me my side, but I don't even want it to come to that.

The way we present ourselves to the public can be very important in my field. I fear what would happen if the instructors heard something bad abou me that wasn't true. They are good people and would probably ask me my side, but I don't even want it to come to that.

You are training to be a corrections officer, you will be expected to deal assertively with a load of people who may not what to do what you want them to do. I can't see how speaking politely to this woman to get what you want can reflect poorly on you.

The way we present ourselves to the public can be very important in my field. I fear what would happen if the instructors heard something bad abou me that wasn't true. They are good people and would probably ask me my side, but I don't even want it to come to that.

You are training to be a corrections officer, you will be expected to deal assertively with a load of people who may not what to do what you want them to do. I can't see how speaking politely to this woman to get what you want can reflect poorly on you.

She is a fellow employee, so it does matter a little actually, especially because I am no way in authority over her. I have no problem with authority and exercising it; this is a peer, and thus not treating someone with respect (if she saw it that way) is not OK.

The way we present ourselves to the public can be very important in my field. I fear what would happen if the instructors heard something bad abou me that wasn't true. They are good people and would probably ask me my side, but I don't even want it to come to that.

You are training to be a corrections officer, you will be expected to deal assertively with a load of people who may not what to do what you want them to do. I can't see how speaking politely to this woman to get what you want can reflect poorly on you.

She is a fellow employee, so it does matter a little actually, especially because I am no way in authority over her. I have no problem with authority and exercising it; this is a peer, and thus not treating someone with respect (if she saw it that way) is not OK.

Unless you have already clashed with this person personality-wise, I think you are really, really overthinking this.Asking someone politely to chew gum more quietly is not exerting authority.If mutual respect is so important in your training, then her refusing a polite request would be severely disrespecting you.

I may be way off here, but does your training have an element of peer social review? Where your peers rate you based on your personality? If so, she would be bending over backwards to oblige you - but she can't know it bothers you if you don't speak up.